Ron Hextall's first season as general manager of the Flyers came complete with the firing of Craig Berube as head coach. Through it all, Hextall had to manage a roster that was constantly changing, deal with questions of the coaching situation while he continued to try to get a philosophy in place.
His philosophy: patience.
Patience in letting a system – from the coach to the players that would run it. Patience in allowing the younger pieces waiting in the wings to come up.
But does this patient process mean the Flyers have to wait to compete? Ed Snider doesn't seem to think so.
"People were misinterpreting Ron Hextall's words," Snider said in an interview with Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer. "All I did was clarify what Ron Hextall had been saying – which is simply, we're going to be extremely patient with all of the young players we have coming.
"Patience was misinterpreted to mean that he was going to be patient with the team in and of itself. Which he's not. He's going to do everything in his power to produce a winner as soon as possible, which means it could be trades, it could be coaching, it could be all kinds of things."
The Flyers certainly have a lot of work to do to turn the current roster into a winning one. Hextall has already expressed a desire to add a scoring forward and a sizeable defenseman to the roster. He also has several defensive prospects that are closing in on call-ups in the coming years.
That said, Snider's expectation has always been to win and win now. It makes Hextall's task all the more daunting.
Are the Flyers ready to compete? In one sense, you look at the roster and see a team that nearly defeated the New York Rangers in the 2014 Playoffs, losing Game 7 by a goal. On the other, you see the inconsistent and often times unmotivated team that missed the playoffs.
Hextall can certainly use the offseason to add the motivation factor in a new coach of his choosing and what could be a series of new players. It still will come down to the team's performance, both in terms of how well they form chemistry and how they individually display work ethic. It was an evident problem in the 2014-15 season.
Perhaps the frustrating part is that the Flyers – Snider and Hextall most notably – keep pulling out a go-to line – that the Flyers made the playoffs in a shootout on the final day of the 2010 season and two months later were playing in the Stanley Cup Final. Seasons like that don't get repeated very often.
The Flyers will need a lot to go right for them to contend as soon as next year. And even then, all the luck in the world might not be enough.
Still, Hextall's plan of patience is crucial to the team's success in the next five years and beyond. Some of the Flyers of the future are in the system already and if they are not prepared for the NHL level, they need to remain in the minors.
That said, it will certainly be a curious offseason once again to see how Hextall juggles the present and the future in an attempt to compete and be patient.
It is a fine line to walk. Chances are Hextall could be straddling that line quite a bit this offseason.
Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.
